Nina in the limelight

No banana, apple or pear for Nina as fingerfood. Her preference goes out to the zesty sour stuff. She was sucking on this piece of lime for half an hour and would probably still be if we had not taken away from her. She just loved her vitamin C shot for that day and the bath she had to have after the session.

Again!

It's thunderstorm season the American way: bigger, harder, louder, rainier, stormier than you've ever seen before. And we got 'hit' again, too. Two years ago in Mundelein, a tree in our garden split in half and fell on the deck missing the house by 5 centimters. This time in Waukegan, again an even bigger tree split in half. Fortunately it decided to land in the middle (exactly) of our lawn, only crushing our prune tree. Time to get the chain saws out and have fun :) To be continued...

Bugaboo update

Nina has grown so much that the bassinet part of the Bugaboo was getting a bit tight, so time to take the name of the stroller, Chameleon, at heart and change to the stroller feature. She's loving it!

Sailing

The weather has been fantastic the last few days so we've been spending most of our free time on the water. A new experience for our latest crew member, but not a bad one as you can see on the pictures.

Daddy's new toy

At work they decided to buy one each and have races on the parking place during lunch. It runs 57mph on a little 47cc two-stroke engine and makes a lot of noise: a mini pocket bike!

For Staszek it is a minibike, but for Nina it is a full size superbike.

Walking on the table

Already for a long time, Nina loves to 'stand' on her own two little feet. And she's quite good at it, too! But walking on the table together with papa and showing off is even better. Before we know it, she'll be running around the house.

Happy Thursday evening

Just a happy Thursday evening on the patio with nice weather.

In the hammock

Now we have the perfect lounge spot in our garden: a double hammock. Nina and Staszek were the first to try it out. This is going to be a favourite for sure!

First time play outside in Waukegan

The weather has finally really picked up and now it's not only stroll-around-the-block time, but also play in the garden time. Fresh air, plenty to see, lots of space to move around and a great place for a nap, because all those new impressions take up a lot of energy.

Yemen

What a country!

Dogs on the runway and flights departing 'insallah'.

Yemen runs on qat; a leafy narcotic that made the Somalians feel they were invincible to to the US Rangers and Delta Forces during the US invasion in the early nineties.
In the afternoon it is difficult to spot a male who is not chewing it!

Lounging with daddy and favourite book

Saturday afternoon, the weather is not too great, time for a lounge session on the chaise longue in the window in daddy's den. Comfortable pillows, sheepskin, favourite book at hand: what more could a girl ask for?!

Play time!

When Nina was born, we got this mega exersaucer as a gift from Staszek's colleagues. Now we had to try it out, or better, Nina had to try it out. Lights, sounds, music, rattles, colours, shapes, you name it, it's there. An all-in-one playground for Miss Nina, who especially enjoyed entertaining us with her latest musical composition on the animal piano.

Nina sailing

When you go out on the boat, you need a life vest. As Nina likes to do everything 'in style' we got her a nice baby girly one and off we went to try it out and take the Wind Spirit out sailing for the first time this season. Apart from her stylish gear, Nina also had her comfy and safe carseat on board. The weather turned out not to be great that day so we turned back fairly quickly after taking off, but the Nina's first time on the lake is a fact.

Wind Spirit prep 2008

After some repair had been done to the Wind Spirit at the marina, it was really time to get her ready for the new sailing season. So we took her home and started the necessary after winter cleaning, painting, waxing, more cleaning, laquering, scrubbing. Yes, it's a lot of work and not the most fun part of owning a sail boat but once we'll be out on the lake this will be quickly forgotten.

Tummy time

Still not so very favourite, but Nina is able enjoy more and more time on her tummy. The sport is to collect as many soft toys as possible while doing so. Just in case her heavy little head gets tired and she needs a comfy place to rest it.